Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia - Formation and Early Years

Formation and Early Years

In 1920 near the end of the Russian Civil War, after the White Russian Army under Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak was defeated and the Bolsheviks occupied Siberia, a mass exodus of Russian refugees moved into Manchuria. Over ninety thousand refugees settled in Harbin, Shanghai, Dairen, Hailar and the smaller towns along the Chinese branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway within three years. Lacking adequate lodgings or employment many migrated to America, Europe or Australia.

Also in 1920 the Soviet government revealed that it was hostile to the Russian Orthodox Church. On November 7, 1920, Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, issued an ukase (decree) instructing all Orthodox Christian bishops currently under the authority and protection of his Patriarchate, should they be unable to contact the Higher Church Administration, to seek protection and guidance by organizing among themselves.

Among some Russian Bishops and other hierarchs, this was interpreted as an authorization to form an emergency synod of all Russian Orthodox hierarchs to permit the Church to continue to function outside Russia. To add urgency to the synod's motives, in May 1922, the Soviet government proclaimed its own "Living Church" as a "reform" of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On September 13, 1922, Russian Orthodox hierarchs in Serbia met in the town of Sremski Karlovci and established a Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad, the foundation of ROCOR. In November 1922, Russian Orthodox in North America held a synod and elected Metropolitan Platon as the primate of an autonomous Russian exarchate in the Americas. This led to a three-way conflict in the United States among the Exarchate, ROCOR (sometimes known as "the Synod" in this period), and the Living Church, which asserted that it was the legitimate (Soviet-government-recognized) owner of all Eastern Orthodox properties in the USA.